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Gai Jatra
The festival of "Gai Jatra", the procession of cows, is generally
celebrated in the Nepalese month of Bhadra (August-September). The
festival of cows is one of the most popular festivals of Nepal. The
whole complex of Gai Jatra festival has its roots in the ancient age
when people feared and worshipped Yamaraj,"the god of death". However,
the ironical sessions synonymous with the Gai Jatra festival came into
tradition in the medieval period of Nepal during the reign of Malla
Kings. Hence, the present form of Gai Jatra is a happy blending of
antiquity and medievalism.
According
to the traditions since times immemorial, every family who has lost one
relative during the past year must participate in a procession through
the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is unavailable then a
young boy dressed as a cow is considered a fair substitute. In
Hinduism, a cow is regarded as the most venerated among all the
domestic animals. It is believed that the cow, revered as a holy animal
by Hindus, will help the deceased relative's journey to heaven.
In
terms of historical evidences, once when King Pratap Malla lost his
son, his wife, the queen remained dumbstruck. The king was very sad to
see the condition of his beloved queen. The king, in spite of his
several efforts, could not lessen the grief of his wife. By all means
he wanted to see little smile on the lips of his sweetheart. He
announced that someone who ever made the queen laugh would be rewarded
adequately.
During
the festival of Gai Jatra, the cow procession was brought before the
griefstricken queen. Then the participants began ridiculing and
befooling the important people of the society. Finally when the social
injustice and other evils were highlighted and attacked mercilessly,
the queen could not stop smiling. The queen laughed, and Pratap Malla,
the king ensued a tradition of including jokes, satires,mockery and
lampoon in the Gai Jatra days.
After
the procession is over, in the afternoon, nearly everyone takes part in
another age-old tradition in which the participants dress up and wear
masks. The occassion is filled with songs,jokes, mockery and humour of
every kind become the order of the day until late evening. Hence, Gai
Jatra is a healthy festival which enables the people to accept the
reality of death and to prepare oneself for the life after death.
According to Hinduism,"whatever a man does in his life is a preparation
to lead a good life, after death".
Article by Prabhakar Chettri
Photographs collected from Min Bajracharya and Deependra Bajracharya.
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